Small powered vehicles are known for grooming sand surfaces such as those found in the sand traps or bunkers of golf courses. These vehicles typically have three ground engaging wheels arranged in a tricycle configuration comprising a steerable front wheel and two rear wheels. An operator sits on a seat on the vehicle and drives and steers the vehicle using a steering wheel adjacent the seat. The steering wheel is operably connected to the steerable front wheel of the vehicle. The SAND PRO® brand of bunker rakes manufactured and sold by The Toro Company, the assignee of this invention, is a well known line of sand grooming vehicles of this type.
A trailing rake is towed behind sand grooming vehicles of this type to engage and smooth the sand. Traditionally, such rakes have a plurality of independently movable rake sections with each rake section having a plurality of rigid teeth. The rake teeth engage and groom the sand as the rake is pulled over the sand by the vehicle and the rake teeth pass through the sand. In some rakes, the rake teeth comprise spring teeth rather than rigid teeth for providing a smoother finish on the sand. In other rakes, brushes have been used as the rakes to provide an even firmer and smoother finish on the sand.
In grooming sand traps or the like, vehicles of this type typically have to turn around and make multiple side-by-side grooming passes over the trap to groom the entire trap. This is particularly true in modern golf courses where some sand traps can be quite large. However, when turning around, conventional vehicles and rakes of this type typically leave a teardrop shaped area of ungroomed sand on the inside corner of the turn. This is obviously a disadvantage as such ungroomed teardrops detract from the appearance of the sand in the groomed trap. It would be desirable to have a sand grooming vehicle and rake that could groom an entire sand trap without leaving any ungroomed teardrops.
Moreover, traditional sand grooming vehicles are not suited for use in very small bunkers and traps due to their turning radius. Such small bunkers and traps must be raked or groomed by hand. This is more laborious and time consuming than using a driven vehicle to groom the trap. Thus, it would also be desirable for a powered sand grooming vehicle to be suited for use in small bunkers and traps to avoid the need to hand groom such bunkers and traps.